Questions tagged [error-propagation]

How an error in ciphertext transmission affects the deciphered plaintext. It is often studied a 1-bit change ("bit flip") of the ciphertext. That could induce a bit flip in the plaintext, a larger plaintext alteration, or an impossibility to decipher. For a block cipher, error propagation is a characteristic of the mode of operation; e.g. a ciphertext bit flip affects 2 blocks of plaintext for CBC, all subsequent blocks for PCBC.

I'm taking a very simple class on cryptography. The class is not mathematical is just the very basics. We learned about modes of operations recently (such as CBC and CTR), one of the things I learned ...

Going through the wiki for modes of operation I see that the section error propagation says that an error in one block in the ciphertext in CBC mode only impacts two blocks. I do not quite get that. ...